The hiring call for IHOP Bahamas led more than 900 people to register with the Department of Labour to be interviewed for the various positions at the restaurant, with only about 600 people actually showing up on interview day at the Department of Labour last Saturday, IHOP’s Operations Manager Dicrius Ramsey told Guardian Business yesterday.
Ramsey said IHOP would like to find out why 300 people did not show up.
However, he explained that out of the pool of people who attended, IHOP was able to find suitable candidates for most of the positions available. For their first restaurant they hoped to find about 200 people. They are hoping to hire up to 600 Bahamians as more stores are opened.
According to Ramsey, where they fell short was in finding enough cooks to fill their 24-hour operation. He said the operation requires about 45 cooks given the establishment’s double kitchen and the franchise’s reputation for a quick turnaround on orders.
“From the numbers who showed up, I think the only deficiency we would have found was in the area of cooks,” said Ramsey.
“We knew that was going to be a challenge, because that has been a challenge in this country since 1999. We always have shortages of cooks and bartenders, because those are skilled positions that you don’t always get to train for.
“Now when you’re opening up a new entity, you want persons to have at least eight to 12 months experience, having worked in an actual kitchen, so they don’t have stage fright when you open up and they are put to the test.”
Ramsey said outside of the cook role, they were able to find suitable candidates for all other positions.
Barry Saunders, IHOP’s head of what he calls the people’s department (otherwise known as human resources), explained that candidates were split into A and B categories, which will allow IHOP to pick the candidates most suitable to open the first location at The Mall at Marathon. He said the other candidates will then be considered later for the other locations they plan to open.
“We’re not discarding. There are some persons who may fit the A/B list, we’re going to give those a chance as we look forward to the second location, to see if we can develop some of that talent,” said Saunders.
He added that IHOP is still vetting those candidates who pre-applied for positions, as well as those who attended the job fair.
Ramsey said some of those who attended the job fair were fast-tracked to a second interview and job offer letter.
“For the majority of the selection, the majority were unemployed and not working,” he said. “Our objective was to find the best unemployed people.”
